The superintendent of Colonial National Historical Park is drafting regulations that would allow a kayak and canoe launch site at the Yorktown Beach picnic area.

Current regulations state park visitors aren’t allowed to launch or beach privately owned vessels from or onto land within the park.

Superintendent Kym Hall said the idea first came to her during discussions to allow nonmotorized vessels to launch on the Jamestown end of the park, but she realized the picnic area at Yorktown Beach would be an ideal place for such a site with its ample parking, public restrooms and easy access to water.

“The park has historically never allowed the launching of nonmotorized vessels. In many cases, it’s not conducive, it’s not safe, it’s not good for the resources, but there are some key locations where we think it could be good,” she told county supervisors recently.

York County helps maintain the beach picnic area that’s under the jurisdiction of the park service, and county spokeswoman Gail Whittaker said in an email the county would continue to work in partnership with the NPS on improvements to the park.

“The county and citizens both want to see more access to water, especially the York River,” she said.

Water enthusiasts also can access the York River elsewhere along the Yorktown waterfront in a beach area designated for personal watercraft.

Other launch sites around the county include Queen Creek at New Quarter Park, which opens to the York River; Wormley Creek Boat Landing; Rodgers A. Smith Landing at the Poquoson River; and Back Creek Park.

“The county and citizens both want to see more access to water, especially the York River."— York County spokeswoman Gail Whittaker.

The county appropriated $350,000 last year and $100,000 this year in its capital improvement plan for “Yorktown improvements,” to include upgrades to beach restrooms — which aren’t currently handicap accessible — and the dockmaster’s building, both of which were built in the 1970s and aren’t designed for year-round use.

There’s no timeline for when those building replacements would begin.

At a work session this month, County Administrator Neil Morgan suggested instead of working on beach improvements for the picnic area with another $100,000 set aside in this fiscal year, it would be better to hold off until Hall’s modified regulations are approved and the launch site moves forward and instead work on the restroom and dockmaster’s office improvements.

Another $100,000 is proposed in the Capital Improvement Plan for an EZ Port dock/launch for a personal watercraft in the area already designated for launching kayaks and canoes near the Watermen’s Museum, but a date to issue funding isn’t included.

The new launch site could also provide direct access to the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, Whittaker said. The water trail is marked by buoys that deliver real-time information on weather and water conditions, collect data and provide navigational and historical facts.

Hall said the work on changing the regulations should be done and sent to NPS headquarters in Washington, D.C., for review by October.

“There are many, many hands that have to touch that document” before anything is final, she said.

Alexcy Romero, superintendent of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, said in its assessment of the Yorktown Beach area, NPS would need to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to make sure that no submerged aquatic vegetation is impacted.

Romero is going through his own feasibility study for a nonmotorized vessel launch area near Theodore Roosevelt Island on the Potomac River.

There’s also coordination that needs to take place with the Virginia Marine Resource Commission, which has jurisdiction of the water. Spokeswoman Ellen Bolen said NPS would need to apply for a permit to have a nonmotorized vessel launch site.

At Colonial National Historical Park, the launch site can take many shapes – a floating platform, an elevated walkway or a concrete slope, for example.

Hall said once the rules are changed, she expects to begin work with The USACE in the spring.

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